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Castrol Racing
'''Castrol Racing '''are a team in the Gravel Racing League. They are based in the United Kingdom. They are also one of the founding members of the championship along with Abarth , Forza and Shell . Season One In the build up to season one, Castrol confirmed they would be entering the sport. The team quickly snapped up Edward Knight as their lead driver. A few days later, they also confirmed the signing of Jon Golden. The team were designated the numbers 3 and 4 for their debut season. Things started positively for the British team with a string of 6 successive podiums including wins for Knight at Road America and New York. This left the team, a strong second in the constructors with Edward Knight leading the drivers championship. However Golden shocked the team with his departure shortly before the race at New York. This left the team unstable and ultimately led to bad results at Sunset Peninsula and Suzuka. Knight began to slowly slip down the order in the drivers championship before dropping out of the top three following two 4th places at Motegi and Silverstone. The team managed to convince Jon Golden to return which led to strong 2nd and 4th place finishes at Camino Viejo. This positive result moved Knight onto level points with Ross Mayger and just 5 points off leader Michael Saunders. Things also started well at Catalunya before unreliability kicked in, forcing Knight to lose a likely second place and crucial points. This massively dented Castrol's title hopes and despite a decent 3rd place finish at Mugello, Knight was mathematically ruled out of the championship hunt. Meanwhile Golden was locked in a battle with Ben Hughes over 7th place in the drivers championship, a battle which Golden won despite being disqualified at Mugello for dangerous driving. Castrol's season ended badly when Golden was ruled out of the race at Le Mans due to illness. The team finished the season third in the constructors with Knight and Golden coming 4th and 7th respectively in the drivers championship. Season Two Castrol Racing had already confirmed that they would be staying in the sport for season two . In early November, Castrol confirmed Knight would be staying with them for their second season. His team-mate was left unknown for a while until on the 6th December, Castrol announced Robin Hawthorn would be Knight's team-mate for Season Two. The first race did not go exactly to plan, and although Castrol were the only team to have two classified finishers, they finished in the lowest two positions. The result at Sedona was more positive, and the team recorded their first ever double podium. This meant the team was leading the constructors championship. Road America and Road Atlanta saw Hawthorn take another couple of third places for the team. This left Knight and Hawthorn on level points after the first 4 races. At Infineon, both drivers were off the pace and Hawthorn and Knight finished 4th and 5th respectively. A collision in turn one at Laguna Seca saw Knight pick up considerable aerodynamic damage which hampered his performance. Hawthorn finished 4th following an overtake on his team-mate after being behind him for over half the race. A close battle between both drivers at Indianapolis saw them come 4th and 5th again. At Suzuka, Knight held off four other drivers in a close fight to come second whilst his team-mate made contact in the final chicane which saw him drop from third to fifth. Things got worse for Hawthorn when he failed to start the race at Motegi. Knight did race however but could only manage fifth position. Meanwhile Virgin took a big chunk out of Castrol's championship lead, narrowing the gap from 10pts to just 1pt. On home soil at Silverstone, the team lost their lead in the championship following a double podium from the Virgin team. Knight was set to secure a second place finish at Catalunya before he was taken out by Ben Hughes, dropping him off the podium until a kind gesture from Hawthorn saw him move up to third. Mugello saw a podium for Robin Hawthorn and Edward Knight followed it up with another third place at Le Mans. Hawthorn only managed fifth meaning Hughes beat him to fifth in the overall standings. The team also missed out on the constructors championship by just 8 points. Category:Teams